gibbons vs Gibbons - hilarious new music video released!
Swoop-ga-woop!
Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra just shared a hilarious new music video of my piece "gibbons vs Gibbons" starring the Odin Quartet.
Alex Toškov (who also edited the video) and Tanya Charles Iveniuk struggle to play through a viol duet by English Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons, as a pair of white-cheeked gibbon apes (voiced on cello and viola by Samuel Bisson and Veronica Lee) sing, swoop down and swat them. See my full program notes below the video…
Swoop-ga-woop!
Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra just shared a hilarious new music video of my piece "gibbons vs Gibbons" starring the Odin Quartet.
Alex Toškov (who also edited the video) and Tanya Charles Iveniuk struggle to play through a viol duet by English Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons, as a pair of white-cheeked gibbon apes (voiced on cello and viola by Samuel Bisson and Veronica Lee) sing, swoop down and swat them. See my full program notes below the video…
All season, the SPO has been releasing music videos in their Performance Series. In May some of these are pieces that will be included on the Odin Quartet's debut album later this year - which will feature "gibbons vs Gibbons" alongside premiere recordings of music Samuel Bisson,
Bruno Degazio, Chris Meyer, Elizabeth Raum, Ron Royer, and Kevin Zi-Xiao He among other Canadian composers!
Programme notes
gibbons vs. Gibbons is one of those pieces that started as a title. I was thinking that it was funny that there is an English Renaissance composer named Orlando Gibbons, since gibbons are also a kind of ape. The most wonderful kind of ape!
Watching them swing and play at the Toronto zoo, and listening to recordings of the whooping-swooping duets of white-cheeked gibbons online, I wondered what would happen if these apes encountered their namesake composer. In my piece, the viola and cello (the gibbons) keep swinging playfully down to bother the violins (attempting to perform a duet by Gibbons), causing unexpected problems in the music.
Eventually, apes and musicians find a way to play together for the final cadence - and a whooping finish! "gibbons vs. Gibbons" is dedicated to these endangered primates who give the world a music of their own.
-- AE
Podcast feature on Odin Quartet album, including "gibbons vs. Gibbons"
The SPOGreatMusic podcast just released an episode profiling the Odin String Quartet’s album project. Host Daniel Mehdizadeh spoke with Odins Samuel Bisson and Alex Toskov about the repertoire, and the composers talk about their pieces in their own words.
My piece gibbons vs. Gibbons will be on the album, and I spoke about it (in an animated manner!) for the podcast.
The SPOGreatMusic podcast just released an episode profiling the Odin String Quartet’s album project. Host Daniel Mehdizadeh spoke with Odins Samuel Bisson and Alex Toskov about the repertoire, and the composers talk about their pieces in their own words.
My piece gibbons vs. Gibbons will be on the album, and I spoke about it (in an animated manner!) for the podcast.
The album will be released later this year, and is produced by the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra.
Listen here! (and subscribe to SPOGreatMusic on your favourite podcast app)
And for those who want more Gibbons (and gibbons), here’s the live recording of gibbons vs. Gibbons (which is a bit different than the version we recorded… the album track will contain more “VS”.
And YES, my podcast Fresh Sounds is out as of yesterday! I’ll share it once the first episode is available in all the main podcast apps.
(Re)watch the Album Launch!
Alex’s debut album “A Present From a Small Distant World” is now OUT and available!
To celebrate, we held a Virtual Album Launch Party online on Sunday Feb 21.
The event included filmed performances by Kristin Mueller-Heaslip and Jennifer Tran, a new music video of the title track, and chats with everyone who worked on the album.
The complete hour-long event is now available to watch at your leisure on Youtube!
A Present From a Small Distant World is OUT and available!
To celebrate the release of Alex’s debut album, we held a Virtual Album Launch Party online on Sunday Feb 21.
The event included filmed performances by Kristin Mueller-Heaslip and Jennifer Tran, a new music video of the title track, and chats with everyone who worked on the album.
The complete hour-long event is now available to watch at your leisure on Youtube!
First album review - and it's in Dutch!
A Present From a Small Distant World drops on February 19, and I’m thrilled to have one early review out.
Nieuwe Noten is a contemporary music blog from the Netherlands, so this very thoughtful review is in Dutch.
Read the full translation on the Reviews page:
A Present From a Small Distant World drops on February 19, and I’m thrilled to have one early review out.
Nieuwe Noten is a contemporary music blog from the Netherlands, so this very thoughtful review is in Dutch.
Read the full translation on the Reviews page:
"Big Muddy" released on new junctQìn album
The new album from junctQín keyboard collective includes a wonderfully mysterious, murky, crash-bang recording of my most aptly named piece: "Big Muddy" for piano six hands.
It's out! The new album from junctQín keyboard collective includes a wonderfully mysterious, murky, crash-bang recording of my most aptly named piece: "Big Muddy" for piano six hands. That's three people at one piano, their fingers and palms and fists nearly interlocking.
"Big Muddy" is a kind of messy musical transcription of a big, muddy, gorgeously eroded hill: Castle Butte in Saskatchewan's Big Muddy Valley. Listen right to the end for the fourth, non-human "performer" that I recorded from the top of the butte.
The entire album is great, with music for piano, toy piano and other keyboards by Emily Doolittle, Chris Thornborrow, Monica Pearce, Elisha Denburg, Tomi Raisanen, Alfred Schnittke and Maurice Ravel.
Please consider supporting this and other albums on the Redshift Records label!